Learning to tell time is an essential life skill. However, it can be challenging and even frustrating for children. Interactive Telling Time is the answer to this dilemma. This app is not only educational, but it is also amusing, easy-to-use, engaging and visually appealing. On the main menu, which is customizable with music and a variety of accurate clocks, players choose a variety of tasks: Set the Time, What's the Time, Play Puzzle (a clock to which the pieces and numbers must be added), Take the Quiz, Stop the Clock, or Learn the Clock. During all of these activities and games, incorrect answers are met with encouraging words and additional chances. Correct answers earn stars which accumulate toward new fish friends in the player's virtual aquarium. The positive reinforcement for correct answers not to mention the lack of emphasis on incorrect answers, encourages children's excitement and enthusiasm for learning time-telling skills. Its varying activities and difficulty levels add to its longevity.

Last to Finish tells the story of Max, a third grader who struggles tremendously with timed multiplication tests. We learn that when he takes his time, he solves all problems correctly, but that he is unable to replicate this success when the timer is going. Along with Max, readers learn that there are different ways to "be smart" in a subject. As his principal explains, Max is the kind of kid who has a deep understanding of the way that numbers work, and this is a skill separate from memorizing math facts. Max is surprised to learn that he is, in fact, a bright mathematician - he just learns differently than some of his classmates.

DreamBox Math is an online learning tool that focuses on math skills for children in grades K through 5. Presented in an entertaining and engaging manner, the 600 math lessons are aligned with Common Core State Standards, making the exercises useful not only in the home setting, but in school settings as well. When our young testers were first introduced to this website, they eagerly participated in the activities for over an hour. We had to ask them to stop. The children thoroughly enjoyed the tasks and the variety presented to them. Based on the child's performance (including accuracy and speed), an individualized program is developed, making this adaptable to each student's needs, be it math enrichment or intervention. The power behind this adaptive learning engine is nothing short of remarkable.

Motion Math: Zoom is an educational game that focuses on teaching and honing number line skills. Players pop bubbles to release numbers at appropriate points on a variety of animal-themed number lines. In the first level, children explore the numbers 0 through 1,000. Frogs are spaced along the number line with an interval of 1, dogs on the number line with intervals of 10, and so on. If a bubble contains the number 6, children can glide their finger along the screen until they find 6, at which point they can pop the bubble over the appropriate space. As the numbers grow higher, zoom out toward the larger dogs, rhinos and dinosaurs to find the right place to pop the given bubble. Future levels introduce the concept of decimal places (bees and amoebas) and negative numbers.

Many games are simply flash cards which have been gussied up with graphics, rather than games that actually help solve problems or understand concepts. Operation Math is a flash card game, with a fun spy premise and interface. For those interested in games that offer practice in simple number operations, this app does just that. Users can select the operations +, -, x, and/or customize a combination of operations to practice.

A silly and fun take on basic addition and subtraction drills. One to four players take turns at the same tasks. They solve math problems quickly to count the number of pieces of sushi needed to serve a movie crew, which includes friends of Ruff Ruffman, the main cartoon character from the PBS show Fetch. The catch is that instead of a keypad for number entry, players have to use the camera on the phone or iPad (first generation iPads will not work) to select the right answer from one of ten paper clues printed out from the PBS website before the first game play. Game play can be fast, if numbers are close by, or wildly active, if the numbers are scattered around a room or all over the home. As players progress through the levels, the math drills get harder. Starting with memorization, they build toward two-digit subtraction problems.

Veteran children's music artist and educator Hap Palmer applies his outstanding signature blend of music, fun and learning to shed light on the mysteries of multiplication. With infectious rhythms and melodies, Palmer helps listeners scale a "Multiplication Mountain." Base camp features "The Twos Give You Twice," "Fives Alive," "Tens Trip Off Your Tongue" and "Elevens Have Those Doubles." At the summit: the tables of 7 ("Almost to the Top") and 12 ("Reach for the Sun"). Palmer includes lyrics and a thoughtful activity guide for parents and teachers as well as a multiplication table and pointers about patterns and terms.

Kids will be challenged by the fast pace of Crossword Math whether they are accomplished math whizzes or are building confidence with basic math skills. Includes 150 math tiles, game board, score pad, and guide. Everyone takes three tiles and starts building math equations. The first person to run out of tiles says "Take three more!" The crossword-style puzzle can be rearranged at any time. Use the last tile and win!

Trickomatics is for those who have mastered their times tables and who want to use them to become mental math experts. What's most promising about Trickomatics is its underlying principle that anyone, even elementary school kids, can learn "tricks" to make complex multiplication problems easier. That kind of thinking is a good approach, and the skills developed in this program will be valuable later in the student's life (think SATs). This mathematical problem-solving program teaches five basic elementary-level, multiplication-problem tricks, such as "the 5 trick" and "the 11 trick." The program comes an animated story disc starring Trickomatics characters who head off on an adventure that involves all sorts of math and numbers everywhere. The instructional software disc offers 14 sections that teach the five tricks and provide nine series of problems.

In this debut offering from Carsten Studios, there are three stacks of numbers on the screen. At the bottom of each stack is a total (a target sum as those well-schooled in numbers say); an assortment of numbers sit on top of the three stacks. The goal is to drag the numbers from one stack to another so each stack adds up to its target sum. Start by choosing one of the nine ways to have the numbers displayed: dice, fingers on a hand, a honeycomb, numbers, coins, English words, Spanish words, Roman numerals, or a surprise display. Select the solve or race mode and choose to play at the "easy" or "hard" level.

Play mental math with two 12-sided dice and three 6-sided dice. To start, one player rolls the two 12-sided dice. Multiplying these two numbers together establishes a "target number." Another player then rolls the three 6-sided dice to establish "scoring numbers," which each player will combine (by adding, subtracting, multiplying or dividing) in the most creative way to match, or come closest to, the target number. Variations make the game playable for all ages.

You've entered a bike race, and the only way to win is to factor as many numbers as you can. That's the gist of Tour de Prime, an app that will hone the factoring skills of any player. Far from a simple math drill, the game challenges players to increase their bike's speed by correctly tapping the factors of a number in the top right corner of the screen. Each number can be factored down to 2, 3, 5 and/or 7, and those numbers are displayed at the bottom of the screen. They're each ringed in a different color, and those colors can be used as hints for factoring the number above. As the race goes on, other cyclists and spectators will pop in to your path. Tilt your iOS device to steer from left to right in order to avoid those obstacles as they emerge. Fun sound effects round out the experience.

This DVD series is an energizing tool for students who wish to supplement their classroom math material. The enthusiastic hosts appear to be the same age as the intended audience, making the subject matter more inviting than intimidating. The video segments provide explanations and examples of several math topics including fractions, decimals, geometry and more. The DVDs are paired nicely with lessons on a digital workbook, which includes detailed lessons and problems for students to solve.

Through a series of five DVD's, a work book, cards and other props, creator and host Mike Byster encourages interaction and participation as a way to learn math concepts. (Whatever you do, though, don't tell the kids that!) Byster's games and exercises, like the Missing Number Mystery and the Take 10 card game, feel more like party tricks. The real trick, however, is that Byster incorporates elements of math in a way that isn't scary or intimidating.

Bill Nye The Science Guy becomes Bill Nye The Math Guy as he explains algebraic principles including fractions, exponents, and proportions in short and sweet snippets that put it all into real world terms. Bill is wacky and full of energy, and if there's a fun way to teach a math concept, he'll be the first to come up with it. With Disney's eye for appealing to kids and Nye's ability to teach the math, the execution is just right.

Thanks to the FLY Pentop Computer and the education-minded folks at LeapFrog, algebra no longer has to be the problem it once was. Just snap the Fly Through Algebra Flyware cartridge onto the back end of the FLY Pentop Computer and you've got an automated algebra coach checking each step of your homework.